


bubble gum

by stardustkiss



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Best Friends, Chance Meetings, Cuddling & Snuggling, Daydreaming, Fantasizing, First Dates, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Gentle Kissing, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, House Party, Love Confessions, Love at First Sight, M/M, Meet-Cute, Romantic Fluff, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Strangers to Lovers, Study Date, Sweet, hello dear readers its 4am help me please, kind of, oh my god its almost 5am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:15:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29733756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustkiss/pseuds/stardustkiss
Summary: Karl falls fast for a knight in shining armour that saved him at a party he didn’t want to be at. When he accepts he’s never going to see him again, he’s introduced to one of his best friend’s best friends : Sapnap, his knight.
Relationships: Karl Jacobs & Sapnap, Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Comments: 14
Kudos: 204
Collections: Cute works





	bubble gum

**Author's Note:**

> hello dear readers! 
> 
> if anybody was thinking “i wonder where ao3 user stardustkiss went” i was working on this BEHEMOTH of a oneshot that clearly got out of hand <3 
> 
> this took me so long i really didn’t plan for this to be one of the longest works i’ve ever written in my whole life, but hey it happens. 
> 
> please enjoy my contribution to the strangers to friends to lovers community. 
> 
> ayo karlnappers ! i am offering u sustenance <3
> 
> cw and or tw :
> 
> • drugs (brief mention)
> 
> • alcohol / underage drinking 
> 
> • injury / violence (again just brief!) 
> 
> • emetophobia (mentioned) 
> 
> be safe and enjoy!! 
> 
> title from bubble gum by clairo!

Karl was supposed to be spending his Friday night studying for an exam he had on Monday morning, for his 8am class to be specific, but his roommate had pushed him to go to a party. He didn’t hate parties, he didn’t have anything against them, but he wasn’t really in the mood for one. Yet here he was, standing in a sea of people while his roommate disappeared to go find their mutual friend. 

Parties were only fun when you weren’t abandoned by your only friend there. He rubbed his hand over his face softly, everyone was basically wasted and or high, and he wasn’t big on either drinking or drugs. Karl pulled his phone out of his pocket, nothing from Quackity, his roommate, and nothing from George, who Quackity had left him to find. 

The music was obnoxiously loud, he was considering getting a drink so he had something to do and so he wasn’t awkwardly standing at a party. He didn’t even know whose house he was in, just that they had invited everyone and extended that invite to friends of friends of friends. Some of these people weren’t even in college, or at least went to his college. 

He had snaked his way through a crowd of people to hopefully grab something to drink, he didn’t mind if it was alcoholic or not. As long as it wasn’t hard liquor that would quite literally ruin his entire night and probably week. Karl had made his way to the kitchen when he was almost immediately offered something, he pulled a face and politely declined. He wasn’t going to take something he didn’t know anything about from a stranger. 

Unfortunately this person wasn’t going to take no for an answer, and Karl stood awkwardly wedged between the counter and someone pushing him to take drugs. Perfect Friday night that could have been avoided if he just stayed home and made a flowchart. His eyes flickered around behind the frame caging him into the kitchen, now would be good timing for Quackity or George to find each other and then find him. 

Karl narrowed his eyes when he heard the distant sound of sirens, trying to discern whether it was part of the song or not. The sight of people beginning to run around the house in panic only confirmed that somebody snitched and the entire party was being shut down. He expected the threat of fines, and prison to be enough to get this guy away from him, but it wasn’t. Karl was actually convinced this guy was too crossfaded to even notice the police were only minutes away from the house. 

The police were going to storm the house for underaged drinking, possession, distribution and probably other things Karl wasn’t aware of and he was stuck in the kitchen. This might be the lowest point of his life. How was he supposed to get out of this? Karl looked away from the drugs being waved around in his face, watching people run around them. They pushed each other with no regard for anyone else, it was every man for themself. 

Karl was about to accept his defeat and accept he was going to have a criminal record for something he didn’t even do, he was legal and he was full of regret and he was going to be so pissed at his roommate. 

Before Karl could even blink, the very intoxicated man that had been keeping his hostage in the kitchen was ripped away from him. Karl exhaled loudly, relieved he could get out of there. He took half a step forward when there was a loud crack and he watched the man get punched right in the jaw. Karl’s hand came up to cover his mouth, eyes wide as he looked up at whoever had just saved him and really gone the extra mile for him for some reason. 

With a small shake of his hand, dark blue eyes met Karl’s gaze and Karl could not stop staring at this mysterious stranger that was essentially his hero of the night. He had messy dark hair, he couldn’t tell if it was black or brown in this lighting. It softly curled at the ends, long enough to come down to the middle of his neck and half of it was pulled into a ponytail. It felt like time stopped as they stared into each other's eyes, sirens got louder, dangerously close. 

“Fuck,” His hero said under his breath, he peeked at his hand which was throbbing from having just hit someone in the face. Karl followed his gaze to the hand, bruised knuckles and shaking from adrenaline. 

“ _Fuck_.” Another voice came from behind him, yanking the man with the ponytail backwards by the hood of his hoodie and urging him to keep running. The moment he turned around to leave before the cops came, Karl was brought back to reality and he rushed out the nearest door. 

“Where the fuck were you Karl?” Quackity yelled as they met up four blocks away at the bus stop, judging his roommate who was hunched over trying to catch his breath. George stood beside Quackity, hands buried in the pocket of his jacket, they exchanged glances. 

“You ditched me!” Karl complained, heaving for air as he finally swallowed the lump in his throat and stood straight up again. He pressed his hand to his chest, his heart was beating so fast he thought it was going to burst out of his chest. Karl hadn’t ran that fast in his whole life, but then again he’d never had to run from the cops before. “I got stuck in the kitchen.”

“How did you get stuck in the kitchen?” George was judging him and judging him hard, he’d only been at the party for about twenty minutes before everything went to shit. He hadn’t gotten the chance to even enjoy himself, he had barely met up with Quackity when the cops came. 

“It’s a long story but this guy cornered me and tried to peer pressure me into drugs and then someone punched him in the face,” Karl wiped at the sweat on his forehead, taking a deep breath and then shakily exhaling. “Oh, well, not a long story. That’s the whole story.” He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and stared at the time, it was only 11:50pm. 

“Huh? What the fuck?” Quackity put both of his hands out and blinked rapidly, looking over at Karl and shaking his head. “I can’t tell if you’re fucking with me.” He grabbed Karl by the face and inspected his eyes for any signs of intoxication. 

“I’m not! I swear I’m not!” Karl grabbed onto Quackity’s wrists and softly shook him. “Also what are you looking for? I did not and do not do drugs. You know this.” He looked over to George for support and he shouldn’t have because George was looking doubtful as well. 

“I want to hear more about who punched this guy in the face,” George added, pointing with his hand that was in his pocket. “I kinda wish I had seen it, that sounds entertaining.” He murmured, turning his head to watch the approaching bus, it wasn’t the one they were waiting for, so he shuffled backwards and sniffled. 

“It wasn’t entertaining, it was terrifying.” Karl mumbled, pulling Quackity’s hands away from his face and then settling his hands at his sides. “Well, the guy that saved me, I kinda can’t stop thinking about him.” Karl admitted, and he knew he shouldn’t have, because both of his friends made suggestive noises. 

“That’s going to be a hell of a story to tell your children.” Quackity said casually, completely satisfied with himself when Karl blushed bright pink and cleared his throat. 

“Oh, you fell for him at first sight then? Your knight in shining armour?” George added, raising an eyebrow as he watched Karl press his hands to his cheeks to try and hide that his friends were embarrassing him. Since George was on official bus watching duty, he looked over just in time to see it turn around the corner. 

“I didn’t fall for him… I’m just really thankful that he helped me out when you both abandoned me. I don’t know his name or anything about him other than he’s cute and he can punch good.” Karl tried to explain himself but it wasn’t really doing him any favours, he was just giving his best friends more material to mercilessly bully him with. 

“God, you are so in love with this guy.” Quackity fake gagged, nudging Karl forward when the bus stopped in front of them and the doors opened up. “I’m glad I ditched you, because now you can make me the best man at your wedding for introducing you.” He flashed his student ID at the bus driver as they walked by, pushing Karl further into the bus and urging him to sit at the very back. 

“Stop it, you know that thing where you joke about something so much it becomes true?” Karl complained, plopping down at the very right side up against the window and resting his feet on the seats in front of him. “I don’t want to have a crush on someone I’ll never see again.” 

“I mean you’ll see him in your dreams.” George added, sitting a seat away from Karl and leaning back with a small sigh. He’d like to have seen what Karl’s knight looked like so he could tease him more, but maybe it was for the best only Karl knew so they couldn’t harass this poor man. 

“I swear I will not sleep.” Karl’s eyebrows furrowed as he imagined his knight, and when he thought of him all he could see was him in the moment directly following the punch. He sunk further down into his seat, hands coming up to hide his entire face.

“This guy better be drop dead gorgeous, by the way.” Quackity sat down on the seat in front of Karl, stretching his arms over his head and yawning obnoxiously. “George are you spending the night?”

“Only if you sleep on the floor and I get the bed.” George said without missing a beat and Quackity shook his head at him, disappointed but not surprised. 

“No, Alex and I can share a bed. You can take mine.” Karl replied, not thinking anything of his response until George and Quackity shared a mischievous glance. Karl didn’t know why they did this but it made him uneasy and he was waiting for the punchline, almost scared.

“I don’t think your future husband is going to like that.” Quackity said under his breath, smirk growing on his face when Karl turned completely towards the window. Karl had curled into himself as much as he could manage, shielding his face from both of his friends and refusing to talk to them. He shouldn’t have told them, he was going to develop feelings for a dude who punched someone at a party for him. This was not how Karl thought his Friday was going to go. 

He’d never wanted to be sitting in his room studying so badly. 

Monday’s exam was probably the worst Karl had ever performed on a test, and not because he didn’t know the content but because he couldn’t focus. He’d been studying all weekend, kicking George and Quackity out of the dormroom so he could have no distractions. Even that didn’t work, because his main distraction was him personifying a stranger in his head and daydreaming about him. 

Karl didn’t know what to do with himself, he copied down his notes and did his flowchart but he couldn’t get that face out of his head. He didn’t have much to go off of, he could really only remember his hair, his eyes and his hand, but Karl had a wild imagination. 

When he cracked open a can of Monster so he could stay up as long as humanly possible to study, he imagined his knight sharing it with him. When he couldn’t find his eraser he’d imagine asking his knight to borrow his. When he sat down in class to take his exam he imagined looking beside him for the attendance sheet and finding those dark blue eyes again.

Karl had embarrassed himself so much over the course of this weekend, he was so lucky he was alone because this was free real estate for his best friends to torment him over. He refused to let Quackity back in even though it was his room too, begging him to stay with George so he could not fail his midterm.

He had taken all the time available to him for the exam, even the extra ten minutes that were given if you really, really needed it. Karl was usually so eager to get out of tests, knowing he’d second guess his answers and waste time switching between two. 

When he got out of his exam, he felt the energy drink crash, and he dragged his feet as he walked. He could always just drink another one, or he could take another nap. He didn’t have class for another hour and a half, he could afford some sleep. 

Karl was walking down the hallway very slowly when he suddenly pictured his knight crawling into bed with him and he neary veered right into a wall. He’d only known this guy existed for four days, how was he such a mess over him? They were literally nothing and wouldn’t ever be. 

Karl wondered if he was leaning into it because he couldn’t remember the last time he had a crush, and he used that word really lightly because he didn’t know this guy’s name. He didn’t even know if he was a student. He didn’t know anything. And he didn’t know who he could possibly ask, and he felt weird having to pry for information.

How was he even supposed to approach the topic? A really handsome guy punched a creep at a party for me and he had dark hair and blue eyes. That’s all. Karl rubbed at his tired eyes slowly, pulling his phone out of his pocket and checking to see where Quackity had gone.

Quackity had stayed with George, who got lucky and scored a room without a roommate. He was pretending to be mad at Karl but he couldn’t when he understood how important doing well in classes was to Karl. Quackity was also in class right now, and would be in class all day, and then he’d come back to their room.

Karl felt slightly better knowing he hadn’t pushed any limits and wouldn’t be alone another night. He made his way to his room as quickly as he could without passing out halfway there, and then he flopped into bed. He barely had enough energy to take off his school bag and his shoes, laying facedown on top of his blankets. 

He felt his ears get hot as he imagined his knight yet again, tucking him in for a nap. Karl wrapped himself in his blankets like a burrito and shut his eyes tightly. He imagined arms around him, lips pressed to his forehead, soft humming, and the sound of heartbeats. 

Karl had it bad, for someone he didn’t know. This would not be fun. 

“Midweek check up,” Quackity announced as he threw his clean blanket onto his bed, it was still warm from the drier. “Still in love with that guy?” 

“I am never going to get over him if you keep asking me about him.” Karl muttered from his desk, laptop open and twenty tabs open. “It’s almost been a week, please let me get over him.”

“But do you really want to get over him?” Quackity countered, tucking his blanket under his perfectly fluffed pillows and then resting his hands on his hips. “Cause I think you’re blaming me way too much.” 

“Of course I want to get over him.” Karl turned in his chair with a loud creak, his voice wavered as he said it and turned into a question towards the end. Quackity gave him a knowing look and Karl tilted his head back in frustration. “I don’t know how to deal with feelings I have for someone I don’t know, help?” 

“What the fuck about me makes you think I know?” Quackity asked incredulously, sitting down on the corner of his bed and reaching for his unfinished sofa sitting on the bedside table. “What’s that TikTok trend, start imagining him doing embarrassing things? 

“Is that what you were doing at George’s all weekend? Watching TikTok?” Karl whispered suspiciously, eyes following Quackity as he proceeded to chug his flat soda. 

“Shut the fuck up,” Quackity said after putting the can back down and smacking his lips a few times. “This isn’t about me. It’s about your knight telling his mom that he threw up at 3am.” 

“What?” Karl’s eyebrows scrunched together and he thought about it, only to feel bad that he wasn’t feeling well and he rubbed at his forehead. “It’s not working, Alex. I don’t want him to be sick.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, you won’t laugh at him for waking his poor mommy up after puking?” Quackity leaned back on his elbow and rolled his eyes. “Okay how about you imagine him going down the stairs and he misses one?” 

“Can you stop hurting him?” Karl gasped out, watching Quackity recoil from his words and begin shaking his head with a very disapproving expression.

“I don’t know how to help you if you’re concerned about your imaginary crush getting hurt in hypothetical situations.” Quackity gave up on helping Karl, laying back on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. 

“But he is real. He just doesn’t know I exist.” Karl turned back around in his chair, looking at his half written essay on his screen and frowning. “I’ll get over it eventually, thanks for helping, I guess.”

“You guess,” Quackity snorted lightly, grabbing his phone and beginning to rapidly text. “I’m going to bully you with George now.”

“Great, I’m so lucky to have such caring best friends.” Karl sighed, tapping lightly at his keyboard to try and get himself back in the mood to do schoolwork. 

“Yeah, don’t mention it.” Quackity happily replied, already laughing at what George had texted back to him. 

  
  


It had gotten to the point that Karl was seeking him out, wandering around campus to buildings he usually didn’t do into and taking his sweet time peeking into classrooms. For some reason he didn’t want to give up this tiny hope he was holding onto. He wanted to believe that maybe he could see him again, even just once. 

The jokes from his friends weren’t helping, but he was struggling to decipher if he hated them or not. Part of him liked that he was being teased about this, that he was able to live vicariously through an imaginary relationship. He couldn’t remember the last time he was even in one, it had been a long time and it certainly wasn’t serious. 

He knew he was awkward, and that almost made him even more awkward. He was so conscious about what he was doing that he always ended up doing the wrong thing. Karl had almost just given up at this point, deciding to focus on his studies and spend time with his friends instead. 

The thing was he was only awkward when it came to romance, probably because it was so unknown to him and there really wasn’t a way to practice. Karl was daydreaming every single day about this guy he didn’t even know, these elaborate plots between him and a stranger. He felt weird about it, as if he was invading his privacy, but he couldn’t help it. 

Nobody had ever punched someone in the face for him. Maybe that’s what it was. Karl hadn’t had anyone fight for him, whether it be physical or not. He was hyping up this fantasy because it was new, it felt exciting, it felt nice. But he shouldn’t let himself get used to it. With what was happening at the party he couldn’t blame what went down, maybe it could have happened to anybody. It happened to him, so he clung to it, desperately.

“You have to come with me, I refuse to be seen being George’s errand boy by myself.” Quackity tapped Karl on the elbow with a statistics textbook with a dull thump, shaking Karl out of his thoughts. They were sitting outside of the library on arm chairs neatly tucked into the corner around a square table. 

“Where’s George?” Karl quickly got out of his seat seeing that Quackity was already packed up and raring to go. Karl must have been deeper in thought than he anticipated, he hadn’t noticed the movement right in front of him. 

“He’s like two buildings over, and he’s too lazy to come here.” Quackity complained, tucking the textbook underneath his arm and flicking through his text messages with George. “He has class in like twenty minutes and he’s too good for us to be even a couple minutes late, dick.” He sighed in disappointment, beginning to walk down the hallway as Karl swung his bag over his shoulder and followed close behind him. 

“Since when did you have his textbook?” Karl stretched his arms over his head, he was basically frozen in place in his seat for the longest time. His body was beginning to wake up, back cracking lightly and the tension leaving him. “He’s such a bad student, can’t even keep track of his books.” 

“Full disclosure I used his textbook as a coaster.” Quackity admitted proudly, grinning over at Karl as he lightly nudged him with his elbow. “But he’s still a bad student because he’s a loser and you’re vouching for me.” He hummed out, swerving around a student glued to their phone while walking. 

“Of course you did,” Karl laughed breathlessly, imagining Quackity balancing his drink on a statistics textbook that didn’t even belong to him. It made it even funnier that it belonged to George, who was extremely particular and hard to please. “Does he know that?” 

“God no, he’s never going to fucking shut up.” Quackity scoffed playfully, rolling his eyes and then inspecting the hardcover of the textbook for any sign of what he did to it. “I just told him he left it in our room because he didn’t want to spend the night.” 

“I won’t say a word.” Karl assured him, watching Quackity rub away a small mark that may or may not have been from him. “You didn’t get to sleep until like 4am today, are you doing alright?” 

“I’m good, don’t worry.” Quackity reached over and ruffled Karl’s hair, smiling when he scrunched up his nose and swatted his hand away weakly. “What about you huh? Are you doing okay? I know your head has been in the clouds for like a month now.” 

“You don’t have to remind me,” Karl smoothed his hands through his hair, checking himself out in the reflection of empty classroom windows as he walked by and pushing flyaways back into place. “I’m okay though, I think. I’m just trying to get a grip on everything, it’s kind of ridiculous that it’s been a month. It’s so lame.” 

“Nah, I don’t want to hear you talking about yourself like that,” Quackity rested his arm around Karl’s shoulder and pulled him in casually. “Only I can bully you, and I don’t feel like bullying you right now. You’re welcome.” He said softly, talking with the hand that was hanging off of Karl’s shoulder now. “It’s not ridiculous, I think it’s only natural you’d develop feelings for someone who helped you when you needed it. I know I’ve been teasing you about it, but I’m here for you. Always have been.” 

“Since when did you get so good at telling me exactly what I want to hear?” Karl murmured, a soft smile growing on his face as the words settled over his head and really began to sink in. These were some of the most important things he’s ever had said to him, and it was from one of the most important people in his life right now. “I think that I’m going to get over it really soon. I just need to figure out a way to get closure.” 

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon, you’re a smart guy.” Quackity led the two of them down the stairs and down the hallway, peering ahead of them as they walked through the buildings. “And if you need my help I’ve got you. Don’t ask George, he’s no help.” 

“True.” Karl laughed happily, already feeling infinitely better knowing that Quackity was there for him. And he’d known this for a long time, ever since they met and became really good friends as if overnight, he’s felt very secure with their friendship. It was nice to be reminded, because it was easy to forget and doubt. “You know what, you guys give me a lot of crap for being my love life but what about you two? Hm?” 

“Okay, time to stop talking.” Quackity pulled himself away from Karl and instead grabbed the textbook in both hands, sighing at how heavy this stupid thing was. “This was about you, don’t you dare try to turn this shit about on me. I choose to be single.”

“Mhm, rejection is a choice.” Karl agreed with a small quirk of his eyebrow, grinning when Quackity threatened to smack him with the book, losing momentum halfway and just bumping him on the arm with it. “Hey we all make a good team, you get rejected, George never makes moves, and I am in love with the idea of a stranger. We’re pathetic.” 

“Amen.” Quackity sighed softly, giving a strong salute before tapping his hand against the textbook rhythmically and nodded in front of them. “There he is, what an idiot. That didn’t even take that long, we could have been sitting in our chairs relaxing and he could have collected his own shit. He’s such a dick.” 

“I dunno I kinda needed a walk, I was getting a little restless.” Karl admitted, earning a light once over from Quackity before he gave him a small pat on the back. “He doesn’t even see us, he’s too busy talking.” 

“Oh he’s with Dream, no wonder he didn’t want to go to us.” Quackity readjusted his grip on the textbook and waved it in the air, clearing his throat. “George! Here’s your dumb fucking textbook!” He yelled, earning multiple stares from people lingering around them, and Karl was not expecting the energy all of a sudden. 

“Stop yelling,” George scolded lightly, putting his hand out and making grabby motions for it. Quackity shoved it into his hand, and then slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “You can leave now, I have class in ten minutes.” 

“Why are you such a fucking jerk?” Quackity complained, narrowing his eyes at George who was leaning with his back against a wall of lockers and then turning his attention to Dream who was standing with his side pressed to the lockers, generally unbothered by the interaction. “Hey Dream, how do you put up with this guy?” He mumbled, completely ignoring the way George rolled his eyes and told Dream that he didn’t have to pay attention to Quackity. 

“Eh, I’m used to it.” Dream answered easily, with a shrug of his shoulders and George huffed in offence while Quackity laughed in glee. Karl wandered over to the small group, giving a soft nod to Dream and then wiping a small stain off of George’s textbook to keep Quackity out of trouble. 

Karl and Quackity knew Dream pretty well, but it was the sort of thing that they were simply part of two separate groups of friends. It’s not like they didn’t all get along with each other, it was just that they were two different circles of George’s friends, and he wouldn’t admit to it but he liked the way things were. 

“Hope we didn’t interrupt anything.” Karl yawned out, covering his mouth halfway through his sentence and then waving his hand quickly. “God, I didn’t mean to do that, I’m having fun I swear.” He guessed that his lack of sleep in favour of imagining scenarios with his knight was catching up to him. He’d try to get an early night today, no more Monster energy drinks. 

“You’re good,” Dream smiled lightly, he also looked pretty sleepy, but that seemed to be the one thing connecting all these college students no matter who they were friends with. They could all use more sleep, but there simply wasn’t enough hours in the day. “We were just talking about getting food after, you want in?” 

“Wow, crazy that _you_ invite us Dream,” Quackity turned his head to look at George and George leaned his head back against the lockers. Quackity knew very well that George liked doing things his way and that’s why Quackity found it so easy to bother him, he naturally had a talent for derailing plans. “What do you think Karl? Wanna stick around and wait for their class to end so we can go eat with them?” 

Karl truly didn’t like it when Quackity did this, he left a big decision up to him. It made it even worse when he was put directly in between his two best friends. George was so clearly displeased and Quackity very obviously wanted Karl to say yes so they could work together to make him even more upset. And it wasn’t like George was genuinely having a bad time, he was just mildly annoyed at worst. There were no hard feelings and if there was, he’d say it immediately. 

Before Karl could even begin to try and worm his way out of being the final decision, everyone’s eyes followed the movement that was Dream stumbling forward a few steps. It took Karl a good thirty seconds to process what happened, but then connecting the dots was easy. Dream had been hugged from behind and the force had shoved him forward a few inches, which surprised only Quackity and Karl. Because Dream and George were so used to it that George actually scooted across the wall of lockers so he wasn’t even close to being caught in the crossfire. 

“Did I miss anything?” A voice came from right behind Dream, and suddenly Karl was looking at a boy standing on his tippy toes with his chin resting on Dream’s shoulder. He had a soft grin on his face, arms still wrapped around Dream’s waist lazily, deep blue eyes, and wispy black hair pulled into a half up half down ponytail. 

Karl’s heart stopped in his chest, he stared in shock as he watched who was so clearly his knight hanging off of Dream without anyone else batting their eyes about it. George looked over towards the classroom, watching the students in the previous class begin to pack their things away and he shook his head. 

“Not really, just some idiot being an idiot.” George waved his hand in dismissal and then shifted the weight of the textbook in his hands. “Wait, have you ever met these guys?” He suddenly turned his full attention to his friends, eyes flickering between the Quackity, Karl and the knight. 

“Nope, you don’t let me meet your other friends.” The knight said simply, just stating a fact, not trying to complain or be shady by saying it. It made Dream laugh though. George rubbed his hand over his face in frustration, he wished he worded that differently but it couldn’t be helped anymore.

“Well, I’ll introduce you now, five minutes before our class.” George clearly wasn’t very thrilled to do this, but he didn’t have a choice anymore. “This is Quackity, and this is Karl. And guys, this is Sapnap. Well time to go to class.” George turned away from them again and walked towards the classroom door. 

“Nice to meet you guys, I would’ve introduced myself sooner if George let me,” Sapnap replied, finally letting go of Dream and then shaking a bit of hair out of his face. “Don’t be a stranger.” He smiled warmly at the two of them, following Dream who began to follow George. Sapnap offered the tiniest wave to Quackity and Karl before getting pulled into a weak headlock by Dream. Karl watched as Dream, George and Sapnap all resumed a conversation like they’d never stopped talking, and Karl exhaled shakily. 

This was a little too much to process. He turned on his heel and looked at Quackity. The moment their eyes met Quackity pressed a hand to Karl’s forehead and began poking around for his temperature. He probably looked like he had just seen a ghost, and he probably kind of had? 

“You okay Karl? Gonna be sick?” Quackity grabbed Karl by the hands and began to lead him towards the nearest bathroom, which Karl was thankful for because he couldn’t really talk or move right now. 

They were standing in the bathroom in silence as Karl splashed his face with cold water, he hadn’t been sick and he didn’t feel like he was going to, but he definitely felt a little lightheaded. This was way too much to take in, and the way that he only knew what was going on only made it worse. He dried his face lightly with a paper towel and then swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Sapnap’s my imaginary crush.” Karl croaked out, crumpling the paper towel in his fists and watching Quackity completely pale and cover his mouth with his hand. 

“Holy fucking shit Karl.” 

George had literally just closed the door to his room when Karl knocked at it frantically, so loudly that it scared both of them. He grabbed at the doorknob and pulled it open, gasping when Karl grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him into the centre of the room. 

Quackity followed Karl into the room, here for moral support because Karl had gone into his silent mode where he was thinking too hard. Quackity couldn’t leave him alone during it. He closed the door behind him and flipped the lights on, eyes flickering between his two best friends.

“Karl?” George grabbed at Karl’s wrists softly, wondering what he had done in the span of about two hours for Karl of all people to get mad at him. They had just come back from all eating together, George thought it was going well.

“George.” Karl breathed out, weakly shaking George by the shoulders and shutting his eyes tightly. He could already feel the blush growing on his cheeks, his ears were beginning to feel hot. “How could you not tell me that Sapnap was the guy I’ve been losing sleep over?” 

The silence between this question and the next was extremely long, and extremely uncomfortable. Quackity cleared his throat awkwardly, taking this time to plop down onto George’s bed, the slight creak making him cover his mouth as if he said something. 

“He is?” George whispered in complete and utter disbelief, eyes flickering over Karl’s flushed face and searching for any hints he was joking. “Karl? I can’t tell if you’re fucking with me.” George lowered his voice, giving him a very firm squeeze around his wrists.

“I’m not.” Karl swallowed the lump in his throat and slowly took his hands off of George’s shoulders and dropped his arms weakly down to his sides. “You’re not either? You didn’t do this on purpose? Promise?” 

“No, no, I promise.” George hadn’t quite felt panic rise in his chest like this before, he didn’t think he’d ever live to see the day where he actually upset Karl. His heart raced in his chest and George shook his head quickly, fiddling with his fingers in front of him. “I really didn’t know this whole time… I didn’t realize.” 

“Okay. You didn’t realize.” Karl repeated, he looked over his shoulder at Quackity just to make sure he was still there. Quackity was stiffly sitting cross legged on the corner of George’s bed, eyes widening when Karl peered over him before he looked back at George. “Wait, you didn’t realize? How did you not realize?” 

George brought both of his hands up to his face, rubbing at his eyes and them dragging them over his cheeks and exhaling loudly. Karl had definitely talked about Sapnap as detailed as he could, multiple times. Either George genuinely forgot Sapnap’s physical description or was being a very convincing liar.

“Karl, you’ve been describing him as this mysteriously handsome guy who was the epitome of good looks and beauty,” George whispered out, rubbing at the bridge of his nose before he nibbled at his bottom lip. “To me, he’s not like that. I mean, I don’t look at him and think ‘wow he’s gorgeous’. I just don’t think he’s cute the way you do.” George looked down at the floor, down at both of their shoes and his eyes narrowed a little. “Well he is cute but-”

“I liked it better when you didn’t think he was cute.” Karl blurted out, he didn’t think he could compete with one of Sapnap’s best friends. George really didn’t know how to win here. Of course he felt stupid for not recognizing his own best friend for a whole month, but he also felt shit for accidentally keeping Karl away from him when he was literally right in front of him.

“I’ve always thought that he’s cute. That’s so off topic, so anyways to me Sapnap is a really good friend. So when you started talking about him like some untouchable angel, I didn’t put two and two together. Because I can just call him and have him in my room five minutes later.” George hoped this was the right way to explain himself, he didn’t know why he was getting so embarrassed over this. He was just talking to one of his best friends about another one of his best friends, he couldn’t help it that he had collected so many. 

“Why are you bragging?” Karl finally gained enough of his footing back to actually crack a joke, and George scoffed in disbelief. “That’s shitty of you, rubbing it in my face that he only knows my name and face.” 

“Well after today he also knows you don’t like bean sprouts,” George added, and Karl weakly pushed him by the shoulder. The two of them laughed quietly and Karl pushed his fingers through his own hair, strangely comforted now they had established it was a misunderstanding that left him with potential. “He ate them for you, that’s gotta count for something?” 

“Stop that, I’m already red I know I am.” Karl pulled his sweater over his face to hide his blush and he spun around to look at Quackity. “Okay we’ll go now, sorry for shaking you around. I’m super flustered and thought you were trying to kill me.” 

“If I was trying to kill you, you’d probably be dead already.” George offered, as if it was supposed to be comforting, and Quackity leapt off his bed with an overly suspicious look on his face.

“No more true crime podcasts for you.” Quackity replied, grabbing Karl by the shoulders and leading him to the door because his face was very much still buried in his sweater. 

“If I told you I listened to them with Sapnap you’d change your mind.” George murmured as he pulled his water bottle out of his bag and unscrewed the top.

“Oh, fuck you.” Karl said easily, making George choke on his water and Quackity laugh so loudly he instantly keeled over with the inability to breathe.

At least everything was back to normal, except now Karl had a name to a face. He didn’t know if this was good or bad, but he knew for sure he wouldn’t be getting over Sapnap anytime soon. If he had found out he was some terrible person it would be done, but he found out he was George’s best friend. Which meant he was lovely, because George was picky with company, and even pickier with people he listened to podcasts with at 2am. It was safe to say Karl was head over heels for Sapnap, which was the scariest sentence he’d ever said to himself. Considering they’ve technically seen each other three times, twice today. 

Karl didn’t know if he should be scared or excited, but he knew one thing for sure. He was probably never going to tell Sapnap, because how do you even tell someone you’ve been daydreaming about them for a month and then just found out their name today? Why did Sapnap have to punch someone for him? He was so hard to ignore and forget about. Karl couldn’t even if he tried, it was hard enough when he was an idea, but now he was a person. Now he knew Karl existed.

They had never actually hung out alone before, for the next couple of weeks George gave in to letting his friend groups mingle and they had basically fused at this point. There was a groupchat, they regularly invited each other to plans, they talked into the late hours of the night. Karl had gotten closer to Dream and Sapnap, and he was very happy with it, but he’d like to get a lot closer to Sapnap and only Sapnap. 

It was hard when Sapnap wasn’t one to really make the plans, so he was already involved when Karl got there or he was just going along with what Dream was doing and it was the three of them. Karl didn’t know if he was close enough to ask Sapnap to hang out, he wondered if that was a little too forward. Sapnap was clearly comfortable with the entire group, the notable shy one who got extremely loud when he was with friends. 

Karl just didn’t know if he was comfortable with him, one on one. He’d missed a lot of opportunities and he knew this, but the last thing he wanted to do was rush into things and make Sapnap uneasy. Sapnap knew how Karl operated now, knew he was quick and witty and full of energy and the line between jokes and genuine conversation was a little blurred. Maybe that’s what was holding Karl back, that he wanted to get to know him better but opening up was scary so he laid it on thick with the humour. 

He almost begged George for their origin story, wanted to know how he got close with Sapnap and how he could do it in a way that wasn’t awkward. Karl was slightly feeling left behind because of course Sapnap was close with Dream, they were roommates, but somehow Quackity had gotten close too. Was it because he wasn’t holding himself back? Was it because Quackity was just more likeable? Oh my God what if Sapnap didn’t even like him and he was only putting up with him because he was George’s friend?

What if Sapnap only hung out with him in a group setting because he couldn’t stand him on his own? Karl spent far too much time in the library with his head down, hands clutching at his hair as he stared down at his open textbook. It was making too much sense, Sapnap only wanted to hang out when they were all together because Karl on his own just wasn’t approachable in a way he could handle. He was too much wasn’t he? Karl was deep in his plan to water down his personality to get the boy he liked to like him back when someone tapped on his shoulder and he jumped.

“I’m sorry, but the library is closed for the night.” The kind volunteer let him know, and Karl scrambled for his phone. The library was closed? He turned on his screen and stared down at the time. It was 9pm. He had been at the library for four hours and he spent a majority of that time catastrophizing. 

Karl did his little walk of shame out of the library, dragging his feet and listening to the sound of the doors locking behind him. What a waste of an evening. He could have been doing literally anything else. He didn’t even get his worksheet done, and it wasn’t even that hard. He didn’t even have the energy to listen to music, his earphones were tangled up in his backpack and he didn’t want to deal with that.

He looked through the floor to ceiling window in front of him and his face fell. It was pitch black outside, the dim street lamps lighting up the path with a dull yellow glow. Great, now he had to walk alone to his dorm room in the dark. He didn’t hate the dark but he didn’t like it, it made him all paranoid because he kept scaring himself. He was out to get himself, that much was clear.

Karl was on his way to the staircase when the door to the computer lab bumped into the wall and he turned his head in the direction of the sound. He saw Sapnap holding the door open and he couldn’t stop the way he perked up, and a soft blush settled on his cheeks. Then he watched the head professor of the programming program step out of the lab with her arms around a box of well organized clutter. 

Once she was out Sapnap shut the door and checked it was locked behind them, offering to carry the box for her before she reassured him she’d be okay. He then gave her a small wave and a small goodnight, and took a few steps down the hall before he caught sight of Karl. Who was just standing there by the way. In the middle of the hallway Karl was standing like a deer in headlights. 

“Hey!” Sapnap happily greeted, he stuck his hands into the pocket of his hoodie and he tilted his head the tiniest bit. “I didn’t know you’d be out so late.” 

“H-Hi,” Karl hated the way his voice shook but he couldn’t fight it if he tried, he cleared his throat and tried again. “Hi. I was in the library.” He nodded down the hall and Sapnap made a small noise of understanding. “Are you usually still here at this hour?” 

“Nah, I was just helping out with something,” Sapnap shrugged his shoulders, eyes flickering over Karl’s face. He always looked so flustered when he saw him, maybe he wasn’t quite as comfortable with him yet? Then his eyes went past Karl to the stars in the sky and he whistled lowly. “Wow, it’s so dark. That’s not good.” 

“Why is it not good?” Karl followed Sapnap’s gaze out of the window, they were staring at a small patch of stars glimmering far away. Did Sapnap not like the dark or something? Was this Karl’s opportunity to learn about Sapnap? Should he be prying more? He had only just established he needed to stop being forward even though anyone on the outside could tell him he had been so reserved with Sapnap it was basically torture. 

“I told Dream I’d be home like two hours ago.” Sapnap answered simply, he fumbled with his phone in his pocket and then decided against pulling it out. He didn’t really want to spend the whole walk home reading angry text messages and listening to exasperated voicemails. “Wanna walk together? If you’re not doing anything.”

“What would I be doing?” Karl asked in genuine confusion, and then he got even more pink at his tone. It made Sapnap laugh in surprise but it made Karl want to bury himself alive. His plan was not going so well. “Sure, can we swing by a vending machine? I’m thirsty.” He started to walk again when Sapnap made his way to the staircase and walked to the very right side so they could both comfortably walk beside each other. 

“I dunno, I guess it was dumb,” Sapnap grinned warmly, not too fussed about apparently saying the wrong thing. “Well I was giving you an out, if you really didn’t wanna hang.” He hopped down a step and hummed quietly. “The vending machine with Monster in it will add like fifteen minutes to our walk.” 

“Why wouldn’t I want to hang?” Karl raised his eyebrows in surprise, there was no way Sapnap thought Karl didn’t like him. Because Karl thought Sapnap didn’t like him, and this was becoming too much too fast. His heart thrummed to life in his chest because Sapnap had remembered he liked Monster probably more than any other beverage in the world and because he’d get to spend fifteen more minutes with him. “Do I really drink that much monster?” He looked down at his feet, carefully making his way down the stairs.

“Well, I mean, I know being with me without Dream or George is kinda, not as fun,” Sapnap murmured, as if he had experience being told it, and Karl’s jaw tightened. “And yeah, a little bit. When I see you in the halls you always have Monster, and in your snaps there’s always one in the background.” He continued, deciding to breeze past that whole self-deprecating thing he just did that Karl would be hung up on for the rest of his life.

Karl just wanted to talk to whoever made Sapnap believe that was even a little bit true and pour his heart out about how many great qualities Sapnap had on his own. He was so angry about it that he almost completely missed what Sapnap said next, but the little hopeless romantic part of his brain latched onto it. He noticed him in the halls? He actually looked at the pictures he sent? He noticed the little things about him? 

“It’s fun.” Karl said under his breath, they were now walking down the hallways on the first floor, the campus was nearly a ghost town. “I’m already having lots of fun.” He added, digging around in his pocket for his wallet and fiddling with a few of his coins. If Karl had his way he’d be going on an impassioned speech about how much fun Sapnap was and how he shouldn’t be so hard on himself. But Karl was easing his way into being Sapnap’s friend, so he held his tongue. “How come you don’t say hi when you see me in the halls?” Even just a wave could make Karl’s entire day, if it was from him.

Karl looked over at Sapnap, eyes widening when he had seen that he had managed to make him blush. This was too much to process, Karl had to look away to centre himself but he really didn’t want to. He wanted to memorize the way he glowed the sweetest rosy pink and turned his head so his hair hid his face from Karl. Karl had never been so mad at hair before, especially not Sapnap’s because he clearly liked it so much. 

“Oh, I just wasn’t sure if you wanted to be talked to,” Sapnap said, then immediately scrunched up his nose when he realized how it sounded. Karl tucked away the knowledge that this guy was extremely thoughtful, maybe even to a fault. “But I’ll do it next time I see you… Maybe text you that I see you if I can’t find the courage to say it out loud.” He still wasn’t looking at Karl and Karl’s heart hadn’t stopped racing in his chest this entire exchange. 

They’d been alone for no more than seven minutes and Karl had learned so much about him that he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about Sapnap. He was all he thought about, and this was making it a lot worse. Maybe it was best for his focus if he wasn’t alone with him, but now that Karl knew Sapnap was actually just too shy to hang out with him, he probably wouldn’t be able to leave him alone. He just wanted Karl to make the first move, he just didn’t want to be ignored or not be liked. Which he didn’t have to worry about because Karl was wildly in love with him and was convinced the greatest sin was being mean to this guy. 

Karl could not stop thinking about how cute he was. It was a dangerous thought process when you were walking completely alone through the empty halls of their university but Karl couldn’t keep his thoughts in order when he was with Sapnap. He knew now that them being alone was just an excuse for Karl to stare at him and fall deeper in love with him, and it was probably better for them to have a chaperone. Karl could not focus at all, in fact he had missed a bunch that Sapnap said because he was watching him tuck a piece of hair behind his ear and the hair was a bit too short to be tucked so it kept falling back into his face. 

“Karl?” Sapnap asked, effectively snapping Karl out of the spell and making him come to a full stop because he had basically just walked past the vending machine. He took about two steps backwards and cleared his throat. Right, he was thirsty. Karl looked Sapnap up and down for about ten seconds before he got back on task and checked what Monster flavours they had in stock. Karl counted his coins into his palm as Sapnap leaned against a second vending machine, the one full of healthy snack options. “Do you only drink that flavour?” Sapnap watched Karl lean down for his white Monster, cracking it open and nodding his head immediately. 

“It’s the best one.” Karl stood up straight, wiggling his wallet into his backpack and then turning back around so they could actually begin their walk to their dorms. He hadn’t figured out if Sapnap was walking him home or if he was walking Sapnap home, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to be with him. Karl took a long drink of his energy drink and he licked his lips. He wanted to be with him so badly it kind of hurt.

“I’ve never really had Monster,” Sapnap followed after Karl, glancing up at the wall to check the clock. It was about half past nine now, he was going to be in a lot of trouble but he was trying not to think about it. “Break’s coming up, do you have anything planned?”

“I forgot about break,” Karl grabbed his phone out of his pocket and pulled up his calendar. Their week and a half term break was in a week, and he actually didn’t have anything planned, not this time around. It was during such a weird time that even if he wanted to go home nobody he wanted to see would even be able to, it would be a waste. “Nothing for me. Maybe fix my sleep schedule, try to break my Adventure Time binge watch record.” He said with a heavy shrug of his shoulders, putting his phone away again. 

“That’s going to be one tough break if you ditch Monster in favour of sleep,” Sapnap noted, he didn’t want to imagine Karl having no energy and completely disappearing to sleep all day to make up for it. But he also didn’t want to imagine Karl on three days of no sleep drowning in a sea of energy drinks. “Maybe we could hang out if you’re up for it, I’m not going anywhere either. Just me in my room, Dream-less and very sad.” 

“Oh I’m going to be Quackity-less too,” Karl gasped, latching on to any sort of similarity between them he could get, even if it was at the expense of other people. “Yeah we could hang, I’d love- like to hang.” Karl prayed to the high heavens that Sapnap didn’t hear him casually say that word because he was not ready for that conversation. “Is it cold outside?” He quickly changed the subject, pushing the door open with his shoulder and holding it open for Sapnap.

“Our roommates are leaving us to fend for ourselves,” Sapnap sighed dramatically, and he only half meant the words he said. He stepped out of the building and he looked up at the trees, it wasn’t windy at least. “Um, it’s not super cold. I could lend you my hoodie if you got cold though, but be warned I’m wearing an anime shirt under this.” Sapnap murmured, peeking down his own hoodie to double check he actually was wearing a shirt. 

Karl almost fell over onto the concrete when he thought about borrowing Sapnap’s hoodie, he was thankful it was dark outside because he’s never blushed this hard in public. This was a running theme, like some sort of game that Sapnap was playing, challenging himself to make Karl more and more embarrassed. He sipped at his Monster to keep his mind off of wearing Sapnap’s hoodie and he shook his head, following Sapnap outside. 

“That’s really nice,” Karl said so quietly he didn’t even think Sapnap heard him, but maybe it was better off that way because he felt like a dork for saying it. “Then you’d be cold and I won’t have you being cold,” Karl was stubborn, not accepting a sweet gesture because even though it would be a dream come true he would feel incredibly bad for making him anything but happy. “What are you doing when you get back to your room?” He took another long drink of his Monster, swirling it around in the can, he was already halfway done. 

“You’re really nice,” Sapnap hummed out, and Karl couldn’t tell if it was because he heard him say it or if he came up with it on his own, but it made Karl’s hands shake. “And um, besides getting lectured from Dream, I do have extra credit work so I have to be up for a few more hours even though I’m really sleepy.” He passed underneath a streetlight and Karl could have melted at the way the grainy light behind his head looked like a halo. 

Before Karl could decide not to, he held his Monster out towards Sapnap and Sapnap blinked a few times before wrapping his fingers around the can. Sapnap tilted his head back and took a long sip, then he handed it back to Karl. It was silent except for the sound of Sapnap smacking his lips and humming as he let the taste sit on his tongue. While he was figuring out if this was indeed the best flavour, Karl was straight up having a heart attack. Why did he do that? Why did he just give Sapnap his drink? He stared at the lip of the can, at where his own lips had touched and then Sapnap’s lips had touched right after. 

Karl shared drinks all the time but this was going to be his undoing. An indirect kiss with his crush via a can of Monster was going to be how he died. He looked down at the can with trembling eyes, he couldn’t decide if he was allowed to drink from it anymore. It felt wrong to indirectly kiss him when Sapnap clearly wasn’t thinking about it like that, and Karl wondered if it would be weird to keep the can. Of course that was weird. Karl held the can with both of his hands because he couldn’t stop shaking and he masked that he was freaking out with a gentle smile. 

“So? It’s the best flavour right?” Karl was so glad he was good at faking it, because Sapnap was not fazed in the slightest. He nodded his head in agreement and chuckled into the night air. 

“I liked it.” Sapnap murmured, and Karl held the can tighter. This was so rough. 

Sapnap walked Karl home, and hit him with a ‘goodnight, sweet dreams’ that would exist in Karl’s mind forever just being played on repeat. Then Karl walked into his dormroom to get jump scared by Quackity who was literally just minding his own business on his laptop in his own bed. Karl was just so dazed from the interaction with his crush that he forgot he didn’t live alone. 

“Jesus Christ man.” Quackity stared at Karl through the dark, wincing when Karl turned on the lights and set his energy drink down on his desk. He hadn’t taken a sip since Sapnap had, he couldn’t bring himself to. “Why’re you home so late?” 

“Sorry, I’m full of caffeine and butterflies,” Karl explained, hurriedly taking off his shoes and setting down his backpack. He then got to work on finding a pair of sweatpants to sit around in, desperate to crawl into bed and calm down a little. “I was at the library and then Sapnap walked me back.” He pulled his shirt off and shimmied into a plum coloured sweatshirt. 

“Ooh, did you confess yet?” Quackity adjusted his pillows behind his head, more interested in Karl’s love life than his book report. Karl shook his head very quickly, kicking his jeans across the floor and hopping into his fuzziest pair of sweatpants. 

“No, no, absolutely not, are you insane?” Karl was out of breath as he collected his dirty laundry, dumping it into the hamper and then working on tying the drawstrings of his sweatpants into a bow. “I cannot tell him how I feel, never ever.”

“But why dude? You know him now, and he knows you too.” Quackity didn’t want to see Karl get hurt over this, he didn’t want him to hold back for so long that he ended up losing Sapnap somehow. He wanted Karl to at least try, because then he could say that he didn’t let him get away. “And I know him too, he’s not going to drop you. He’s nice.” 

“I want to know more, I need to know more.” Karl explained, turning off the lights and jumping into his bed, laying on his side facing Quackity’s bed. “We only hung out for the first time alone just now, and it was wonderful, but I feel like I need way more time.” He was still coming to terms with having met his knight in shining armour, things were piling up the more he learned about Sapnap. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever tell him how they actually met, and if he did tell him he fell in love with him he didn’t know which time to tell him about. “He’s too nice, he’s not going to drop me but he’s going to hang out with me because he doesn’t want me to feel bad.”

“That’s not fair to say about him,” Quackity set his laptop beside him and turned over, also laying on his side and facing Karl’s bed. “Listen Sapnap is soft spoken and kind hearted, but he’s more firm than you give him credit for. He’s not a complete pushover, he’s strong and he’s understanding. He’s honest, Karl, so much that it’s respectable.” He murmured lightly, eyes searching Karl’s face for a reaction, and Karl narrowed his eyes at him hesitantly.

“Do...do _you_ like him or something?” Karl mumbled suspiciously, mostly as a joke but he couldn’t shake the feeling. Quackity said nice things about people but he’d never heard him be this nice, and so serious too. It was true that Quackity had spent more one on one time with Sapnap, because he wasn’t afraid to make the first move and he made Sapnap laugh a lot. 

“Huh?” Quackity deadpanned, face morphing through multiple emotions but the most notable being confusion, disbelief and then frustration. “That’s all you fucking got from what I said? Karl I do not want your man but if it will make you hurry the fuck up I’ll say I do,” He rubbed at his eyes and then rolled onto his back again, dragging his laptop onto his lap once more. “Stop using him as an excuse for you to face your own feelings.” He opened up the tab his book report was on and resumed his typing. 

Karl rolled over in his bed, facing the wall, and he pulled the blankets over his head. He was right and he was so good at making Karl take his advice. His arms wrapped around his puppy shaped pillow pet and he shut his eyes tightly. He wouldn’t tell Sapnap right away, but he’d tell him soon, he was sure that he’d say something eventually. 

Break had come around faster than Karl had expected, he was so swamped with homework right before break started that he forgot he was allowed to breathe. He had just handed in his project that acted as a midterm when he registered that Quackity had said his goodbye this morning when Karl was halfasleep. Karl moped about it, texting him frantically that he missed him already and sending him selfies of him pouting. Quackity wouldn’t even be able to see them for hours because he was traveling. 

Everyone was traveling, going back home to see family and friends, and Karl was laying sideways on his bed. He scrolled through messages on his phone, George letting him know he had landed safely, the group chat full of audio messages of their attempt at a cover, and stupid nonsensical memes they came up with while horribly sleep deprived. 

Speaking of sleep deprived, Karl actually wanted to dedicate himself to fixing his sleep schedule. He wanted to actually feel well rested after a night’s rest and he wanted to stop relying on energy drinks. Now that he had no deadlines he could actually dedicate himself to this effort. He stretched his arms over his head, letting out a loud yawn. He was early in the evening, he would probably spend a few hours watching Adventure Time before going to bed at an acceptable time. 

He was on his fourth episode in a row when Sapnap texted him and Karl almost broke his back sitting up at the odd angle he was laying down in. It was simple, nothing special, but it was from Sapnap so it was important. 

: _What are you up to?_

Karl’s thumbs moved so fast he couldn’t hold himself back from texting Sapnap immediately. He told him exactly what he was doing, watching through the first season of Adventure Time before heading to bed as soon as the clock struck 10pm. 

: _Stream it to me on Discord?_

Karl could have screamed. He instead jumped to his feet and did a few small laps in his room, incredibly happy that he was home alone because there was no way he could explain his actions to Quackity right now. He plopped himself back down on his bed and of course he accepted it, this was the best thing he could ever ask for. 

The moment Karl heard Sapnap’s voice he curled up on his bed, face pressed into his pillow and grin so wide that his cheeks hurt. He couldn’t even hide in when he spoke back to him, and he couldn’t stop the gleeful giggles that left him too. He hadn’t seen Sapnap in about three days, so maybe he had been collecting all of his giddy feelings until they could talk again. 

Even though he really didn’t want to, Karl still left at 10pm. When he rolled over to go to bed every time he closed his eyes he saw Sapnap. So he kept them closed, and he clutched at his chest, and he pushed his face against his pillow pet. He wanted to see him so bad, maybe he’d swing by tomorrow, maybe he’d watch cartoons with him in person, if he didn’t chicken out. 

It wasn’t that Karl had chickened out, it was that when Sapnap called him he was not at home and by the time he got back home Sapnap wouldn’t be home either. Karl wished he hadn’t decided to pick that day to become stir crazy and want a breath of fresh air. He wasn’t even doing anything important, no errands, just taking a walk throughout town. At least they spoke on the phone for a little bit, so it wasn’t a complete loss. It would be better tomorrow, he’d see him. 

Except he didn’t. What kind of curse was this? Karl came down with a fever, and he couldn’t believe his rotten luck. The one time he was able to be completely alone with Sapnap and he got sick? This was unbelievable. Karl didn’t think it was possible to be so angry at nothing, he was just cursing at the air and grumbling up at the ceiling. At least everyone was checking up on him, he’d been on voice call with everyone today, even though talking too much made his head hurt. 

He wished he would have been able to talk to Sapnap, and just Sapnap. He wanted to hear his voice some more, he wanted him to take care of him. It was just Karl and his pillow pet against the world, everybody was hundreds of miles away from him or just someone he did not want to risk getting sick. 

At least they could still watch Adventure Time together, Karl watched for as long as he could, until his head hurt so much he couldn’t take it. He held onto Sapnap’s words, hoping that he’d feel better and he couldn’t wait to see him again. Karl had to get better as fast as he could so he could see him. He didn’t like how sad Sapnap sounded over Discord, imagining him laying alone in his room frowning was even worse to imagine. Karl didn’t know it was possible to miss somebody so much.

The good news was Karl had recovered completely, the bad news was it was on the second last day of term break. He had wasted all this time just being sick and bedridden. Karl tried not to let it get him down, because he was on his way to Sapnap’s room finally. He had never been to his room, and he’d been waiting all break to do it.

He knocked on the door softly, pulling out his phone and sending him a text to let him know he was here. Then he got a text back saying it was open, so he pulled the door open and peeked inside. Sapnap wasn’t on either of the beds or at either of the desks. His phone buzzed in his hand and he looked down to see another message.

: _Window._

Karl stared at the message as if he had to decode it, shutting the door behind him and flipping the lock. Then he wandered to the window he could now see was wide open and he popped his head out. His breath caught in his throat when he saw Sapnap sitting on the roof, soft breeze pushing through his hair, which was down. Karl didn’t think he’d ever seen his hair down before, his heart sang in his chest. 

“Hey,” Karl managed, wondering how the hell he was going to get onto the roof without hurting himself. Sapnap looked up from his phone and perked up immediately at the sight of Karl, he reached backward with his right hand and gestured for Karl to grab onto him. Karl tentatively grabbed onto Sapnap’s hand, ducking under the window and using Sapnap to steady him. 

“Hey.” Sapnap said softly, holding Karl’s hand until he sat down beside him, no threat of falling anymore. He shook out his hand slowly, the slightest hint of discomfort on his face, and Karl looked down at Sapnap’s hands to realize in the left one he was holding a half empty bottle. So he was drinking, nothing strong, but Karl didn’t know how many he’d had. “That wasn’t a good idea, that’s my bad hand.” Sapnap murmured, taking a long sip of his drink.

Karl sat with his knees to his chest, the sweater he was wearing was too big for him so his hands had been completely eaten by his sleeves. He clutched at his legs through his sleeves and stared at Sapnap through the soft orange of the setting sun, everything felt so hazy and sweet. Whatever Sapnap was drinking was also sweet, when his breath reached Karl he felt his stomach do flips. 

“You’ve got a bad hand?” Karl asked, eyes trailing over the curve of Sapnap’s neck, shoulders, elbows, then to his hands. His left one was curled around the bottle, dark painted nails tapping against the glass. His right one was pressed against the roof, that must be his bad hand, the one Karl had held moments again. “What happened?” 

“Mm, it was a long time ago,” Sapnap pulled the bottle away from his mouth and set it between his thighs, bringing his left hand up to trace his right hand’s knuckles. “At the beginning of highschool I had a nasty fall during a football game, hurt like hell,” He explained, pressing at his bones weakly and then shrugging his shoulders. “And apparently a few months back I used the same hand to punch someone in the face, so I’m um, not the smartest with this hand.” 

Karl stared at Sapnap’s hand the entire time he spoke, watching his fingers flex and his knuckles shift. He briefly recalled the heat of their palms pressed up against each other, and the way Sapnap’s skin was slightly rougher than he anticipated. The mention of the party, where they technically had their first meeting, Karl’s heart was so loud he couldn’t hear anything. 

“You know, you don’t strike me as a guy who goes around punching people in the face.” Karl whispered under his breath, because it was true, because now that he knew him it seemed a little odd. Karl remembered how nervous he felt that night, how trapped, how suffocated. He hugged himself a little tighter and he watched Sapnap pick his bottle back up, this time in his bad hand. 

“I’m not,” Sapnap leaned back lightly, resting his weight on his other hand and letting his eyes flutter shut slowly. “I don’t know what happened… I had been drinking… Even Dream doesn’t know what happened, and Dream knows everything.” He swallowed down more of his drink and then held it up towards the sun, he had a few more inches to go before he’d have to decide if he got another or not. “Kinda scares me…” 

Karl sat there quietly, listening to the sound of Sapnap’s lazy voice. He’d never really seen him so relaxed, so off guard, so comfortable with himself. Karl juggled with the fact that he might be the only one that knew what happened that night, it was a lot of pressure, but he had the smallest hope that Dream knew too. Sapnap was right, Dream knew a lot, especially when it came to his friends. He wouldn’t be surprised if he knew what happened, he might even recognize Karl if it came up in later conversation. 

“It is kinda scary,” Karl didn’t have much experience with drinking, because the thought of not remembering what happened the next day was not something he wanted to go through. He hoped Sapnap didn’t forget this when he woke up tomorrow, that scared him too. “What’s your biggest fear?” Karl whispered, because he was greedy, because he wanted to know Sapnap, because he wanted him to let him in. 

“Being alone.” Sapnap answered immediately, like he had it queued up and was quietly begging Karl to ask him that. Karl turned his head to look at him completely, his lips pulled into a small frown, his chest tightened. Sapnap drank everything the bottle had left to offer and Karl’s hand twitched, he missed the feeling of their fingertips sliding against each other. “And you?” 

“Um,” Karl swallowed the lump in his throat, everything felt so real all of a sudden and he sunk back into the part of his brain that he hated the most. He rubbed his hand over his knee lightly, it didn’t feel good to be thinking about this. “I don’t really like tight spaces, feeling trapped,” He said softly, even imagining it made him feel suffocated. “I’m claustrophobic, I guess.” 

“Should I move further away?” Sapnap offered, thinking back to everytime he had ever been close to Karl and worrying over the possibility of ever accidentally making him uncomfortable. Karl shook his head instantly, anything but that, he didn’t want him to go anywhere. 

“No, get closer.” Karl couldn’t stop the words from leaving his mouth, and he couldn’t stop the way his anxiety began to claw at his throat. He shouldn’t have said it and he knew. He opened his mouth to take it back, to apologize, when Sapnap shifted towards Karl. Sapnap was slightly further back than Karl, so it was easy for him to settle his arm behind him, another move and he could settle his hand on Karl’s waist. 

“You smell good.” Sapnap said casually, and Karl burrowed into his sweater, his face felt so hot. He wasn’t even touching Karl, but he was so painfully close to it that he could feel his arm pressed up to his back, and his hand hovering over his waist. Karl didn’t think he had the guts to ask something else from him, he didn’t think he had the guts to breathe. 

Karl turned his head to reply, but when he went to look at Sapnap he found Sapnap looking back at him. His eyes flickered over Sapnap’s face, he’d never seen him so up close before. He stared at his lashes, his eyes, the tip of his nose, the slight flush of his cheeks from the alcohol, the shine of his lips. Karl watched Sapnap’s lips part and he ached so badly for what would happen next. 

The door to the dormroom was shut loudly and Sapnap spun around to face the window, gasping loudly. Karl pulled away from Sapnap on reflex, his hands came up to press to his flushed cheeks and he stared at the sunset with wide eyes. What the hell were they doing? Were they even doing anything? 

“Dream!” Sapnap happily called, making his way back through the window, haphazardly and clumsily. Karl barely processed that Sapnap had crawled back into the dorm room until he heard the clink of his empty bottle being placed down on his desk. Karl followed him through the window, leaping back in with a little more grace than a tipsy Sapnap. “I missed you.” Sapnap sighed, most of it muffled because he had thrown himself into the biggest hug he could manage, giggling when Dream hugged him back just as tightly. 

“I missed you too, I hope you weren’t too lonely.” Dream rubbed at Sapnap’s back lightly, raising his gaze to see Karl sliding the window shut and locking it. Then he followed Karl’s gaze to the three empty bottles on the desk and he pressed a small kiss to the top of Sapnap’s head. “Go take a shower, I’ll be here when you get cleaned up.” He murmured, giving him a reassuring smile when he looked up at him to complain. “Go.” 

Karl shifted his weight from foot to foot as he now stood in the room all alone with Dream, the air was a little bit heavy simply because Karl didn’t know how to start a conversation after what had just happened. Or what could have happened. He swore it felt like something was going to happen on the roof. If Dream had come home maybe a minute later, something might have happened. Karl couldn’t have been imagining that, could he? 

“Thanks for keeping him company while I was out of town,” Dream said after taking a long look around the room, it wasn’t incredibly messy but Sapnap’s laundry had piled up and he had been eating a lot more fast food than he should have. Dream set his bag down on his bed, which had obviously been slept in every night since he left, and he smiled tenderly. “Hand me those bottles.” 

Karl leaned over towards the desk, picking up the glass and then crossing the room to get to Dream. He set them down into Dream’s awaiting hands and Dream went to go put them with all the rest of their bottles they’d been collecting all month. Karl wondered if he should stick around for Sapnap to come back or if he should leave, he didn’t feel like he’d been very good company. 

“I mean, I just got over a fever. So I haven’t really been keeping him company.” Karl didn’t know if this was going to let Dream down at all, but he wanted to let him know it probably wasn’t what he thought. As much as Karl wanted to have been spending every single day with Sapnap, this was the first time they’ve met face to face all break. 

“You’ve been keeping him busy, he’s not so good with being alone.” Dream began to explain, slowly making his bed and tucking his sheets in neatly. “You say you haven’t done anything, but you’ve been watching cartoons with him.” He opened up his bag and began unpacking his stuff, he’d done his laundry before leaving his family home. “Then when you go to bed, he calls me and tells me what he did that day. He’s been giving me a synopsis for every episode you guys have watched so far.” Dream chuckled fondly and Karl held his hands behind his back, his stomach was doing flips right now.

So Sapnap had been talking to Dream about him, which probably wouldn’t be such a big deal if Dream wasn’t his most trusted friend on the planet. This was like a stamp of approval, this was like confirmation that they were closer than Karl initially thought. This was him finding out he was important to Sapnap, and it was a lot of information to process. 

“That’s cute,” Karl breathed out, and then he leaned against the desk, pretending he hadn’t just said that. “Hey um, he told me about his hand. Do you happen to remember what happened that night? At the party?”

“At the party?” Dream was tossing his phone charger and his laptop out onto his bed, he didn’t go to many parties. This should be easier for him. He looked down at his own hand as if that would help him and it seemed to click on his head. “Oh yeah! I got separated from Sapnap for one goddamn second and he fucked up his hand again,” Dream grumbled, more irritated than anything about it. He shoved the empty bag underneath his bed and then looked up at Karl. “I know he was trying to help but…” Dream trailed off.

Karl awkwardly sat down on top of the desk, fiddling with his fingernails. Dream was really, really looking at him, he could feel his gaze go right through him. Sapnap wasn’t kidding when he said Dream knew everything, this guy was so perceptive that hiding was just useless.

“You. He helped you.” Dream shook his head in disbelief, quiet laughter bubbling up in his throat. “What are the odds of that? That’s amazing.” He grabbed his phone charger and leaned down to plug it back in where it always was when he found Sapnap’s in its place. He laughed again, more than used to Sapnap surrounding himself with him when he was gone but still deeply touched by it. “You gonna tell him?” 

“I’m not sure yet.” Karl softly kicked his feet, the desk creaked the tiniest bit beneath him and he stopped moving. He wasn’t here to break furniture, he was just here to talk, here to keep company. “When I met him I was so shocked, I almost passed out.” 

“The timing, it’s gotta be destiny.” Dream had switched out their chargers and was putting Sapnap’s back in its own plug. “He’s a good kid, saving people even when he’s drunk.” He sat down on his bed and crossed his arms over his chest lightly. “Do you know if he drank more than what he did today at all this week?” 

“Sorry, I don’t,” Karl pursed his lips lightly, he could understand Sapnap’s habit, being alone frightened him, he didn’t want to deal with it. It was easier to deal with it when his mind wasn’t focused on it. “You’re really good at taking care of him… I’m happy he has someone like you in his life.”

“He’s important, really important.” Dream nodded his head as he spoke, licking at his lips and shrugging. “He’s got this light that I never want to see go out, it’s so genuine and warm. It gets warmer when he’s with you, so I should be thanking you instead.” 

Karl didn’t even have enough time to ask what that meant, because the door swung back open and Sapnap was shuffling back into the room. He had sobered up considerably, only the slightest bit buzzed now. 

“Oh! You stayed.” Sapnap smiled happily when he saw Karl sitting on his desk, and he patted his bed as he walked by it. “Come sit here, that can’t be comfortable.” As Karl made his way over to his bed to sit down, Sapnap was towel drying his hair. “What are we doing for dinner hm? I’m starving.” 

“If I catch you drinking on an empty stomach again I’m going to kill you,” Dream said softly pulling his phone out of his pocket and scrolling through his delivery app for ideas. “Dry your hair and I’ll drive us somewhere.” 

“Let Karl pick,” Sapnap murmured, looking at Karl through the mirror and not being able to hide his smile when their eyes met. “He’s been keeping me sane when you abandoned me.” 

“Hey, that is not fair.” Dream warned and Sapnap bit at his bottom lip, he was taking a risk to be cheeky about it. Karl laughed under his breath, copying Dream and scrolling through the options they had. He didn’t mind what they ate, he was just thrilled he was able to have a meal with them. He felt like he missed out on so much during break, but more than anything he wanted to keep getting closer to Sapnap. 

Things gradually went back to normal, they busied themselves with school and hung out with everyone at once. They grabbed food when they had the time, they hung out in each other’s rooms, they watched cartoons over discord. Karl was getting closer and closer to Sapnap slowly, but he would wait as long as he had to. He would take all the time he could if it meant being with Sapnap. 

When finals swung around, things became more difficult, everybody was under pressure. It was harder to talk, it was harder to meet up. If you weren’t studying you were sleeping and if you weren’t doing either of those things you were having an existential crisis in the shower where nobody could question you about it. 

Karl had barely talked to Quackity who he lived with, let alone Sapnap who was ten minutes away from him. Until suddenly Sapnap contacted him, asking if they could study together. Because they didn’t have the same classes it would be easier for him to focus, it would be less tempting to ask Karl to explain it to him. Sapnap had been studying with Dream but the urge to ask Dream to help him was too strong, and he snapped sometimes. And Dream helped him, of course he did, but Sapnap’s guilt for taking up Dream’s study time was eating him alive.

He needed to study with someone that he couldn’t bother, and Karl had never once looked at Sapnap and saw him as a burden. In fact Karl had been waiting for finals to be over so he could hang out with him again, he missed the casual touches. Karl had enough courage to sit closer to him now, but that was about it. It was still big for him, because Sapnap didn’t pull away, didn’t even bat an eye.

“Good morning,” Karl whispered as he sat down in the library across from Sapnap, he had pulled his fringe away from his face and secured it with bobby pins. Sapnap’s hair had been getting long, Karl had only seen pictures of him with short hair, it was strange to think about.

“Morning,” Sapnap waved his pen at Karl softly, his breakfast was sitting on the table next to him, half eaten wrap and piping hot coffee. “Sorry for the sudden invite.” 

“No, no, I wanted to come,” Karl reassured him, pulling his laptop, notebook and textbook out of his bag. “How’ve you been? George said this term has been hard on you but didn’t explain…” 

“George did?” Sapnap raised his head away from his textbook, tapping his fingers against the paragraph he was reading and chuckling lightly. “Well basically I need to do almost perfectly on this last final, my GPA can only stay the same or go up. Or I’m screwed.”

“Wow,” Karl didn’t remember the last time he looked at his GPA, he was just proud of himself for getting through the term without sobbing in his bed contemplating dropping out of university. “I’ll keep you on task, if that’s what you need me for.” 

“I need you for a lot of things,” Sapnap clarified, he pressed his pen to his lips and softly bit at the pencap, eyes glancing over his textbook. “Thanks for agreeing to study with me…My head’s all weird… I can’t be alone but this is something that’s all me, so I freak out either way.” 

Karl’s chest filled with red hot lava at the thought of Sapnap needing him. The confirmation that he needed him made Karl incapable of keeping his feelings controlled. He almost blurted out that he loved Sapnap then and there, thankfully he bit his tongue, hard. The look on Sapnap’s face got him out of it, made him soften and reach over the table. Karl lightly pushed Sapnap’s hand away from his mouth by his wrist and he offered him a warm smile.

“I’m here, I’ll be here as long as you need me to be.” Karl’s eyes jumped to where his fingertips touched Sapnaps’s wrist, the feeling of their skin pressed close made Karl almost break again. “You’re not alone.” 

“You’re here.” Sapnap repeated, nodding his head lightly before reaching for his coffee with his other hand. It was then that Karl remembered he was holding his wrist and he let go, hand falling into his lap quickly. “Sorry for bringing the mood down, did you eat?” 

“You didn’t, I’m here to listen too.” Karl fiddled with his hands in his lap for a few moments, he watched Sapnap swallow his coffee and he averted his gaze when things had become too dangerous. “Kind of, I had cereal and half a bagel before I got here.” 

“How about we get lunch after? Or early dinner?” Sapnap checked the time to see it was barely 11am, so they had plenty of time in the library. That had extended hours due to it being finals season. “On me, since I dragged you here.”

“Okay, I’ll pay next time though.” Karl opened up his pencil case and grabbed out his pen and correction tape. He was fumbling around with his page flags when Sapnap took a bite of his breakfast and hummed.

“Cool, it’s a date.” Sapnap said casually and all the contents of Karl’s pencil case toppled to the floor. Karl went bright red, profusely apologized and leaned down to pick up everything. Sapnap, mouth still full of food, hunched over and grabbed Karl’s eraser for him.

Karl was sat trembling in embarrassment and horror when Sapnap plopped the eraser down on top of Karl’s textbook and went back to his food. Great. All Sapnap did was say the word date, not even in that context, and Karl had made a complete fool of himself. He could hear his past self from months ago claiming he’d get over this crush, pointing and laughing.

“Yeah, so that’s how I got locked out of my room for 24 hours and when Dream realized he thought I’d died.” Sapnap leaned back against the booth he was sitting at, they were eating at a local fast food place just off of campus.

“You know you always mention Dream giving you lectures but I understand him now.” Karl was sitting across from Sapnap, feeling giddy and alive because their ankles were crossed underneath the table. He was going to take any touch he could get.

“Aw come on man, I can’t get lectured by you too. I know I don’t text back fast and I know I get distracted and I know I’m impulsive- I’m really not doing a good job here am I?” Sapnap buried his face in his hands, sighing loudly before he went to run his fingers through his hair only to get stopped by the pins. 

“You’re doing a terrible job. I’d freak out if I didn’t hear from you for more than a day,” Karl whispered, eyes following the way Sapnap pulled out the bobby pins and shook his fringe out so it was back to framing his face. “Dream’s like your impulse control, I have to thank him for keeping you alive.”

“Ugh, Dream has too many people on his side.” Sapnap pouted, pulling his hair into a ponytail and pulling the hair tie around his wrist further up his hand with his teeth. Karl stared at him, eyes widening because he knew he wouldn’t be able to get that image out of his head for weeks. “Why can’t you support my bad decisions, Karl?” He huffed out, popping a fry into his mouth.

“Because I love you…” Karl didn’t have much time to think about his answer, he just said the first thing that came to mind. He was just talking about Sapnap having no impulse control and then went ahead and confessed to him while they ate fast food? Karl felt heat rise to his cheeks, he suddenly couldn’t breathe. 

Sapnap reached for Karl’s hand that was resting on the table, because he noticed he began to shake, and he grabbed it tightly in his. Karl looked up from their meals and he opened his mouth to explain himself.

“Sorry if I made you think about something bad happening to me,” Sapnap said softly, he gripped Karl’s hand until Karl had relaxed enough to turn his hand over. Their palms touched and Sapnap played with the possibility of intertwining their fingers but didn’t, just prodded his fingertips between Karl’s fingers a few times. “Thanks man, I love you too.” 

Karl stared at their hands touching, stared at the way Sapnap teased the thought of holding his but didn’t commit. He was getting all worked up over the way Sapnap was touching his hand, which felt strangely intimate and sent shivers down Karl’s spine. He looked up into Sapnap’s eyes, the comforting dark blue, he looked a little bit ashamed, a little hesitant. 

Karl honed in on the word ‘man’ added to the sentence and he forced himself to smile. He loved him, but not the way he craved him to. Which was fine, it was fine, because Karl never expected him to in the beginning. But that stupidly hopeful part of Karl’s brain thought of the feeling of Sapnap’s fingers between his and he couldn’t help but think they both were covering it up.

They didn’t move their hands for the rest of the meal, getting back on the topic of their other friends. Sapnap had never actually held his hand, but he had gotten comfortable laying their hands on top of each other. Karl smiled, and laughed, but the more he did, the more it hurt. He’d have to study with him again tomorrow, and the next day, and then the next. Karl wanted to cry, he had said he loved him, but he still didn’t know.

Karl and Sapnap spent the week meeting up in the same spot in the library, studying for hours at a time and then grabbing something to eat afterwards. It was getting tiring, for Karl to pretend he was okay while meeting with him every day. He didn’t even have the time to tell anybody, everybody was caught up in their own studies, with their own finals to take. 

When Karl took his last final, which was in two days, he’d be able to finally breathe and he’d be able to take a little break. His feelings were getting out of control and he didn’t know what to do about them anymore. He wanted to be okay and he couldn’t do that if he had to spend hours with Sapnap knowing they wouldn’t have anything more than this. 

Sapnap had just taken his last final for the term, he burst into his dorm room, loudly announcing his arrival. Dream, Karl, and George were sitting around the room, studying and chatting. All three of them turned away from their notes, scared shitless at the sudden intrusion. 

“How was your exam?” Dream asked hopefully, turning around in his chair just in time to see Sapnap run across the room with a grin on his face. 

“I think it was the best I’ve ever done, thanks to Karl,” Sapnap tilted his head down slightly when Dream reached over and ruffled his hair. “But we can’t relax yet, I need to wait for the results. I need to see that shit on paper.” 

“You can relax,” Dream murmured, lightly shooing Sapnap away so he could focus on his work again. Sapnap sat down on the desk Karl was working at, sighing loudly and offering Karl a little smile. 

“I can’t relax,” Sapnap looked down at Karl who softly hunched over his work, incapable of peeking up at Sapnap who was clearly relaxing right in front of him. “Afterall I need my results to be golden, and I need my Karl to do well too.” Sapnap said softly, jolting a bit when Karl’s knees slammed into the bottom of the desk and Karl choked on his spit. 

“Then leave him alone so he can focus.” George said from the bed, textbook balancing on his knees. He only said it because Dream was too nice to do it. “Actually go get me food, I’ll paypal you money later.” 

“Fine, you’re so boring.” Sapnap sighed, eyes locked onto a piece of Karl’s hair that refused to stay in place. He reached forward and gently tucked it back into place, chuckling when Karl looked up at him in complete shock. “I’m gonna go bother Quackity.”

“Don’t,” Dream warned him, watching Sapnap leap off of the desk and making his way back to the door. “His exams are harder than ours and you know that.” His words had fallen on deaf ears before the door had closed before he even finished. “Text him your order before he forgets.”

George had already pulled his phone out of his pocket and was halfway through his order. Karl had rested his head on the desk, eyes shut tightly. He brushed his fingers over his hair, through the pieces Sapnap had touched and he groaned loudly. He made it so painfully hard to get over him. 

The next time Sapnap burst into a room, everybody was there and they were taking a break from studying. He basically threw the door against the wall, running into the room and nearly tripping over his own feet when everyone hurriedly greeted him. 

“I got my results back!” Sapnap animatedly explained, softly bouncing in his spot as he watched his friends eagerly await him to share the news. There was a small lingering silence as everyone waited for the announcement, and Karl realized he was waiting for the okay to talk about it. 

“What’d you get?” Karl bit the bullet and asked, he was standing by the foot of his bed, looking away from his previous conversation with Quackity and George. 

“97!” Sapnap happily announced, a grin growing on his face as he reflexively opened up his arms and Karl threw his own arms open in excitement. With a small running start Karl leapt forward into Sapnap’s arms, giving him the biggest hug he could manage. The room had erupted into cheers congratulating him, and Karl gasped when he registered that Sapnap had literally picked him up. 

“C-congrats, um, I knew you could do it.” Karl stammered out when he registered he was completely pressed up against Sapnap and he could feel his heartbeat up against his chest. Sapnap put him down as it dawned on him that he had just grabbed Karl and his cheeks flushed bright pink, he laughed nervously. 

“Thanks for um, believing in me, and studying with me.” Sapnap took half a step away from Karl, but his hands were still pressed up against Karl’s forearms and Karl was dying to be pulled back in for another hug. 

“Yeah, of course, I’m really proud,” Karl found comfort in the way Sapnap looked more flustered than him, and he smiled brightly when Sapnap was yanked away from him and pulled into a hug by Dream. 

“Good work, I told you that you’d ace it.” Dream murmured proudly, smiling when Sapnap spun around in his grip and buried himself in Dream’s chest. 

“Thank you…” Sapnap sighed in relief, he could finally relax and stop worrying about his grades. He could have a real break now that his grades were secure and his friends weren’t going anywhere this time around. “George? Where’s my hug?” He asked, peeking over Dream’s shoulder at George and making grabby hands at him. 

“You’re not getting one.” George answered simply, pulling a face as he watched his best friends snuggling with each other in the middle of the room. “I’ll say I’m proud of you though, if that’s any consolation.” 

“When will George admit he loves me?” Sapnap dramatically sighed, wrapping his arms around Dream again and letting himself relax a little bit. “Quackity, wanna get in on this?” 

“You know what? Why the fuck not?” Quackity clambered off of the bed, crawling over top of a very perplexed George wondering why he couldn’t just get up properly. “Come here you handsome devil, I’ll smother you with my love.” 

Quackity then proceeded to get behind Sapnap and hug him tightly, squishing him even further into Dream. Dream had only just begun to process that Quackity’s plan was to literally kill Sapnap with his love, and while he kept trying to put distance between them Quackity kept pushing. It didn’t help that they were all laughing so hard they couldn’t even breathe or explain themselves in the first place, George rolled his eyes when Dream fell backwards onto Quackity’s bed. 

They fell in a big puppy dog pile, gasping for air and not making any effort to move. George was so disappointed that these idiots were his closest, most trusted friends while Karl had probably never smiled this hard thinking about how much love was in this room. Eventually they had to get off of each other because Quackity had to stand on his tippy toes to stay on top of these guys and he had his pride to worry about. 

“Who’s gonna praise me more for my good work?” Sapnap asked happily, laying with his head against Dream’s tummy and Dream’s arms wrapped around his neck gently. Sapnap was holding Dream’s arms happily, he took his cuddle time extremely seriously. 

“Karl?” George mumbled out, like the evil person he was, and Karl made panicked eye contact with Sapnap. “Go on.” George continued, smirking at the way both Karl and Sapnap slowly began to process and freak out. 

“Um,” Karl began, knowing he couldn’t hide his embarrassment. 

“George you’re such a bitch.” Sapnap huffed out, hiding his face in the sleeves of Dream’s hoodie and fully expecting it when everyone in the room decided to laugh again. 

“That’s what you get for being greedy.” George reminded him lightly, grabbing his laptop off of the bedside table and going back to minding his own business. “Some of us still have studying to do, we can’t all ace exams after going on study dates all week.” 

“You’re such a hater.” Sapnap sighed out, unbothered as he rolled over and was laying on top of Dream. “I’m gonna take a nap.” He decided, grinning when Dream threw the blanket over him, decidedly stuck underneath Sapnap. 

“Karl get over here.” Quackity eased himself down on the end of Karl’s bed and patted the spot beside him. With a little effort and walking around legs, Karl sat down beside Quackity and grinned when his arm slung around his shoulder.

“You’re all annoying.” George whispered, a fond little smile on his face as he continued to ignore his friends.

Everything seemed to be going well until things flipped upside down and Karl had caught onto the fact that George was actively avoiding him. He didn’t think he did anything, and if he did he’d want to know as soon as possible.

Anytime he texted him he was given short, curt replies. He wasn’t in the mood to call, ever. If Karl ever actually went to George’s room he would pretend to not be home. And George was only ignoring Karl. 

Karl asked around, and nobody seemed to know what was going on either. Karl spent the beginning of his break wondering what he could have done to make George hate him. Did a joke go too far? George would usually just tell him to quit it and he would. Did he accidentally bring up a sensitive subject? George also would just tell him he wasn’t okay talking about it.

Karl was very good at respecting his friend’s boundaries, he was always double checking and keeping track if they had changed or not. So why did George just stop talking to him? This was completely out of the blue and Karl was not used to someone as important to him as George completely disappeared from his daily routine. 

However Karl was not the type to give up on somebody and abandon them even when he had been left in the dust. In fact he was the type of person to hunt them down and force them into a confrontation. Especially if the person was George, someone he’d been known for a couple of years and had never pulled away before.

Karl was scouting his way through the hallway, leaning into empty classrooms as he walked past. There were no actual classes right now, just clubs and extracurricular activities. He had interrupted a few meetings by poking his head and then apologizing under his breath. 

He was about to give up since he scanned three buildings, sighing loudly when he peeked up through his eyelashes and saw the unmistakable silhouette of George stuttering to a stop in front of him. Karl gasped loudly, he opened his mouth to speak to him when George turned around and started running down the hallway.

Karl was so offended by this, he started rushing after him, he wasn’t going to give up when he was so close. George knew he probably wasn’t going to outrun Karl, but he had to try because he really didn’t want to talk. 

They were running for a couple minutes, out of breath and slightly pained. George was about to give up when they turned a corner and ran straight into Dream. George gasped like he had just seen the only beacon of hope in a doomed world. He ran around Dream, hiding behind him and Dream blinked in confusion.

“George?” Dream was on his way to get something to eat, he wasn’t planning on being used as a human shield. Karl then zoomed around the corner, he spotted George behind Dream and leapt to grab at him. “Karl?” Dream had no idea what was going on, but he held Karl in place over his arm and kept George trapped under his other arm. “What the hell is going on?” 

“George has been ignoring me all week and when I finally found him he started running.” Karl quickly babbled to try and explain himself before George even got the chance. “I don’t even know what I did.” 

“Okay… George? What is going on?” Dream looked down at George who was miserably stuck, staring at the wall hopelessly.

“I can’t talk about it,” George grumbled, this was probably the most embarrassing outcome of this whole situation. “I’m ignoring you because if I see you I will tell you, and I can’t.”

“Huh?” Karl narrowed his eyes, he felt like he had learned nothing even though George had explained himself. “What does that even mean? What can’t you tell me? You can tell me anything George.”

“I literally cannot tell you. I’m sorry but no matter what you say, I can’t.” George relaxed when Dream let go of him and also set Karl back down. “You can’t hear it from me at least.” 

“Okay… kinda cryptic.” Dream murmured, pushing his hair out of his face and then pointing between the two of them. “George I’m sure you can hold back… you don’t need to run.” 

“If you knew what I knew.” George warned, which only confused Dream and Karl even more. Karl’s phone buzzed in his back pocket and he peeked down to see Sapnap was calling him.

“Hey, what’s up?” Karl answered immediately, half turning away from his friends who exchanged a short glance before silently listening to the conversation in front of them. 

“ _Hey! What’re you doing right now?_ ” Sapnap’s voice came through the phone, the other two could hear it from their spots and their eyebrows quirked at the knowledge. They would be shamelessly listening in on them, no doubt about it.

“Nothin’, what’re you doing?” Karl smiled down at the ground, ignoring the brief flash of offence that George and Dream took from not being mentioned. 

“ _I’m about to grab something to eat, wanna come? Then the comic store and the new episode of that animated web series you showed me?_ ” Sapnap said softly and Karl felt warmth in the deepest pit of his stomach. He didn’t know Sapnap remembered it came out today. Dream and George definitely felt like they were intruding now, they began talking amongst themselves to combat that feeling.

“Yeah! Yeah, sure, um, where are you right now?” Karl looked around as if Sapnap was going to be anywhere he could see.

“ _Just leaving my room, I’ll meet you by the fountain?”_ Sapnap breathed out, the sound of the door locking behind him came clearly through the phone.

“Okay, I’ll see you soon.” Karl grinned brightly when he hung up the phone, tucking it back into his pocket and clearing his throat when his eyes flickered between Dream and George. “I uh, I’m gonna go hang with Sapnap…” 

“Have fun,” Dream offered, a kind smile on his face. “Bring me back some food.” He added as he watched Karl turn on his heel and gently wave at them.

When Karl finally walked away from the both of them, George exhaled in relief and leaned against Dream. That was exhausting, physically and emotionally. 

“Thank God he’s gone. Hopefully he’ll hear it from Sapnap, and not from me.” George breathed out, pushing off of Dream and then shaking his head.

Dream was still painfully confused.

Karl yawned softly, sitting in his bed with Sapnap who was scrolling through his YouTube recommended. They had just finished the newest episode, and it was everything they could have hoped for. They were already excited for next week, where they would probably sit in bed together watching.

They had eaten a lot of food earlier, the main meal was really good pizza, but then after they got ice cream. And then just before the store closed they got bags of candy. Karl fondly looked over at the stack of graphic novels he had bought from the comic store, and on top of it was the manga Sapnap had bought. It was nice that they had similar hobbies, they could do a lot together.

Karl would do anything to be with Sapnap more, even if it was as simple as eating together and looking at books. It made him stupidly happy. It was quiet hours now, and Sapnap should probably get going soon. Quackity was hanging out in Dream’s room, basically waiting for Sapnap to come home so they could tag each other out and Quackity wouldn’t interrupt anything. 

“I don’t want to wait a week.” Sapnap complained, leaning back in the bed and groaning in frustration. “I need to know what the hell happened to her.”

“We’ll find out next week.” Karl laughed softly, heart fluttering in his chest when Sapnap angrily yanked his hair tie out of his hair so he could fix it. “What? Don’t wanna hang out with me next week?” 

“What are you talking about? I want to stay here as long as possible,” Sapnap murmured casually, combing his fingers through his hair and then securing it in place quickly. “If I had it my way I’d sit here all night watching cartoons with you.” Sapnap softly turned his head towards Karl and gave him a small smile.

“Oh, well, me too.” Karl flushed the way he always did, lips curling into a huge smile when Sapnap leaned his head against his shoulder. “We could still do that, maybe not tonight, but next week?” 

“Then next week.” Sapnap confirmed, closing his eyes as he rested against Karl’s shoulder. He let out a yawn of his own, it was all catching up with him. Their time together was so fun, but so draining. They’d have to start implementing more naps into their plans.

“Your phone’s going crazy.” Karl whispered under his breath, brushing a piece of Sapnap’s fringe away from his face. Sapnap sighed, exasperated and wanting to get a few moments of shut eye. He grabbed his phone out of his hoodie pocket and he whined childishly.

“Dream’s telling me to go home,” Sapnap pulled himself away from Karl like it was killing him, and he closed his laptop with a heavy sigh. “I wanna stay here with you.” He sleepily got up off the bed, shoving his laptop and manga into his backpack. 

“You can come back tomorrow,” Karl laughed pleasantly, swinging his legs off of the side of his bed and standing up easily. “Or I can come over instead.” Karl made his way to his desk and grabbed the bag of food that they had gotten for Dream. “Don’t forget this, he’ll be less mad if you bribe him.” 

“Come over tomorrow,” Sapnap agreed, putting his backpack on and then taking the food from Karl’s hands. “If anything he has to apologize to me, I was having a lot of fun.” 

“You were taking a nap…” Karl bit at his bottom lip when Sapnap lazily shrugged, the tiniest bit of blush settling onto his cheeks. 

“Yeah… but I was with you so it was fun.” Sapnap shrugged slightly, averting his gaze as he made his way to the door. “Thanks for today, even though it was last minute.” 

“Of course, I had lots of fun too.” Karl followed close behind Sapnap, unlocking his door as Sapnap wiggled into his shoes. Sapnap yawned another time and Karl scrunched his nose in a poor attempt to fight the urge to mirror it, but he lost and yawned anyway. “Get some sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“Okay.” Sapnap exhaled, smiling at Karl when he opened the door up for him and got out of the way. Sapnap stepped out of the room, looked left and right, and then turned to face Karl again. They were standing looking at each other, both sleepy, a comfortable silence brewing. Their eyes met and Karl smiled, unable to stop himself, he made him so happy. “Can I kiss you?” 

Karl let out a small gasp, worried he had heard the words wrong, worried that he was dreaming again. Sapnap leaned back on his heels a little bit, watching Karl’s reaction with careful eyes. Sapnap was holding his breath, and Karl nodded his head slowly.

“Yeah…” Karl whispered under his breath, shivering when Sapnap’s palm touched his cheek. A small sigh left his lips as Sapnap leaned in towards him, pressing their foreheads together and smiling nervously.

Sparks skittered down Karl’s entire nervous system when their lips touched, eyes fluttering closed when Sapnap’s hand cupped his cheek. They could both feel each other trembling, soft laughter and awkward smiles exchanged over their first kiss. Sapnap’s thumb stroked over Karl’s cheek and Karl leaned into it, kissing Sapnap again.

The only reason they stopped was because Karl’s dorm neighbor opened up their door and both of them pulled away abruptly. Karl peeked over at his neighbor, who didn’t even look at them as he walked with his back to them. 

“Goodnight…” Sapnap broke the silence, having trouble saying goodbye when Karl’s eyes looked back into his once more. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow…” Karl whispered, he could barely hear himself over his heart. Sapnap stepped backwards into the hall and then cleared his throat. Karl leaned against the doorframe as he watched Sapnap recalibrate himself and turn the way he needed to go. He brought his fingers up to his mouth, gently brushing them over his lips and giggling. 

Finally. Karl had no idea Sapnap was going to snap first, or that he was going to snap at all. He wouldn’t be getting any sleep all night.

Quackity had hauled ass to get back to the dorm room without getting chewed out by the RA, still catching his breath when he shut the door behind him. He wiped sweat from his forehead when Karl sat up in his bed and smiled so brightly it freaked him out.

“Dude, why the hell are you so happy to see me?” Quackity pulled his shirt over his head, sniffed at it and then tossed it into the laundry basket. “What did you do? I’m not about to go to jail for you.” 

“What? Where did you even get jail from?” Karl lost his smile and gasped instead, hugging his pillow pet close to his chest. “I had good news but I guess not anymore, dang.” 

“You looked so happy it was creepy,” Quackity mumbled, throwing on a random band t-shirt and then tossing his school bag onto his bed. “I worded that wrong, I like seeing you happy but not knowing why makes me think you did something.” 

“Who? Me?” Karl batted his eyes prettily at Quackity and Quackity pointed his finger at him accusingly.

“See? That shit right there. You know you’re cute and you can get away with shit, what crimes did you commit? Hm?” Quackity began to unpack his bag, tossing school work onto his blankets and then hauling his textbook out. 

“I’m just gonna ignore everything except the word ‘cute’ okay?” Karl laid back in his bed with a dreamy sigh and he held his puppy tighter. “Sapnap kissed me.” 

There was a deafening slam when the textbook met the floor and Karl almost had a heart attack at the sound. His bed squeaked as he was back to sitting up, this time using his elbows to keep his weight up. 

“Sorry.” Quackity scooped his textbook up off of the floor and abandoned it on his bed with a hefty chuck. He then launched himself onto Karl’s bed, not caring about what he was doing anymore. “Fucking finally dude, when the hell did he start liking you?” 

“I don’t know! I’m just happy he does!” Karl squeaked, voice becoming muffled when Quackity pulled him into a big hug. “He does like me, right?” 

“Shut up, he’s Sapnap, he wouldn’t kiss you if he didn’t mean it dude.” Quackity scolded him, only half serious. He gave Karl a very rough ruffle of the hair and he laughed, pleased with himself. “Congrats man, that’s so fucking great. Who fucking knew that you’d be kissing the guy who punched a creep for you? Romance.” 

“It is kinda romantic.” Karl snorted, shoving Quackity off of the bed when he began planning to get up. He had basically tripped onto his own bed, rolling his eyes before steadying himself. 

“By the way, does he even know about that?” Quackity couldn’t remember, he’d been hearing about Sapnap nonstop for so many months that it had all melted together. It didn’t help that he was now very close friends with him, so stories from Sapnap and about Sapnap were all getting mixed up. 

“Um, I don’t think so. Should I tell him?” Karl rolled over on his bed, pulling the blankets back and crawling under the covers. He placed his pillow pet under his head and sighed, wiggling until comfortable.

“Hey I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, good story to tell your kids.” Quackity hummed out, stacking his papers up neatly and carrying them to his desk.

“Shut up…” Karl hid his face under the blankets, shutting his eyes tightly and clutching at his chest. It was even worse than when Quackity said it the first time, back then he didn’t even know Sapnap’s name.

“ _Oh_.” Karl was sitting in the centre of George’s bed, legs crossed and a bag of gummy worms in his lap. Now he just felt even stupider for chasing George through the hallway last week. “I’m sorry for running after you then.” 

“Well I’m sorry for running away from you, that was stupid,” George grimaced as he recalled it, rubbing at his temple lightly. “But anyways. It’s over now. You know that Sapnap told me he liked you, and I had so much power in my hand but I’m a good friend.” 

“You are a good friend.” Karl agreed, stuffing a gummy into his mouth and already pulling out a second one for later. “I’m glad you didn’t tell me… I liked hearing it from him… it was really special.” 

“Yeah? Sounds like a lot was special that night.” George mumbled, currently in the process of rearranging his shelves for the new term. He liked to move things around every few months, keep things fresh even if that meant a couple degrees to the right.

“Why did you say it like that? As if we did anything other than kiss.” Karl was red again, mostly because George had made his mind go places he was not emotionally ready for.

“Say it like what?” George flatly replied, he knew exactly what he was doing, and he was having fun doing it. “Now that you’re together please spare me the details, I don’t want to know anymore.” 

“George I’m not going to paint you a picture of my very private life.” Karl scoffed, nibbling on his gummy worms and sighing. “Is that what you think of me?” 

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen you in a relationship before. I’m just being careful.” George pushed his novels across the shelf into the centre and set down a picture frame beside it. 

“Why did that sound like a burn? You haven’t dated anyone either.” Karl mumbled, jumping when George spun around and gestured to the door.

“I’ve had enough of you, go away.” George said simply, and Karl was about to be sad when he saw it was 5pm and it was time for his weekly cartoon watching date with Sapnap. 

“Have fun decorating, show me later.” Karl patted George on the shoulder as he walked past, smiling when George barely managed a half supportive wave. At least he was making an effort, kind of.

Karl had his head in Sapnap’s lap, eyes flickering over the screen as the brand new episode of their favourite web series played out. Sapnap’s fingers were stroking through Karl’s hair, it was so soothing it almost put Karl completely to sleep. 

He was almost letting his heavy eyelids win when Sapnap slid his hand down to cup his cheek and Karl smiled, eyes flickering up at him. Sapnap leaned down, kissing Karl on the lips and then admiring his dazed expression. 

“Wanna take a nap?” Sapnap suggested sweetly, he knew Karl had been up a little late and that he woke up a little early then couldn’t fall back asleep.

“No… I’ll miss you.” Karl murmured, grinning when Sapnap made an affirmative humming noise, his cheeks bright red. 

“Very smooth, Jacobs.” Sapnap gave him a quick peck on the cheek before looking at the laptop screen again, the end credits were rolling by. The end theme played quietly, and Sapnap hummed it while Karl rested peacefully in his lap.

Karl never used to believe these things could happen, that you could see a complete stranger and somehow they end up being your whole world. He thought he was just some hopeless romantic with dreams too big to ever happen, but here he was. All of his fantasies about a stranger turned into plans they had for later. 

All of this because of a party he didn’t even want to go to. Karl was so lucky he went, it was one of the worst nights he’d ever had but it was incredibly worth it. Sapnap’s fingers combed through the hair covering his forehead, pushing it away and then watching it fall back into place. Karl turned his head just enough to kiss at Sapnap’s arm, wherever he could reach. 

“Remember when you told me about your hand?” Karl asked into the quiet of his dorm room, reaching up into the air and grabbing Sapnap’s bad hand. They intertwined fingers easily and Karl moved their hands until he got a good look at Sapnap’s knuckles.

“Yeah… on the roof.” Sapnap remembered it well, it was one of the moments that solidified his feelings for Karl. It was one of those moments that made him wonder, was it normal to feel this way for a friend? 

“And you said you hurt it at a party?” Karl continued, stroking his thumb over the back of Sapnap’s hand and watching goosebumps rising on the exposed skin of his arms. 

“Mhm, I remember.” Sapnap whispered, unable to look away from the way Karl was holding his hand. It was like a spell, one he never wanted to break.

“I have a little story about that party… ”

**Author's Note:**

> i am utterly exhausted after this. i’m just happy they’re happy. 
> 
> if i disappear for a little bit it’s because this fic took everything from me but i’m thrilled i managed to finish :D !!! 
> 
> what is with me and going “yeah i’ll write something short” and then producing THIS...my problem issues goodness gracious
> 
> anyways! i hope you enjoyed! thank you so much for the support! every single bit means so much to me <33


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